Eyesore For Parents, Godsend For Baby

I have to say that I found this to be the ugliest mobile on the shelf the day I bought it. The cheaply made stuffed felt animals looked like someone was squeezing them to death by the way their huge eyes bulged away from their bodies (seriously, the white felt eyes are a tenth of the size of the bodies and protrude like gumdrops on a gingerbread man). No, I was NOT impressed by the look of it. I chose it because it was the only one that played 20 minutes of music at a time, and the music was a medley of Bach, Mozart and Beethoven. I really wanted something that was stimulating.

My daughter was already over two months old when I got this - she was still in a bassinet in our room - and I intended for it to be something to entertain her while she got used to the surroundings of the crib as we transitioned her into her own room.

She LOVED it from the second we got it. All of the bright colors and swirling black/white cones and the plastic beads that slide around as the mobile turns - she was hooked.

The mobile is HUGE. In fact, it got in the way a little bit when I would put my daughter in and take her out, but I have a round crib so everything is centered. It is so many colors, it goes with nothing. So if you're trying to match a nursery as I was initially, this isn't for you. But I think it is probably the most captivating for an infant. And the baby can't see the scary eyeballs from inside the crib, so I guess that's just an extra treat for mom and dad.

The mobile consists of three pieces - the removable rotating top part, a music box with a giant plastic screw sticking out the back, and a giant plastic "nut" that screws on the outside. It runs on 3 AA batteries, and they last several months. The instructions say you're supposed to remove the rotating mobile when the child is 5 months - we waited until our daughter was able to sit up by herself which was about 6.5 months. Then the top part comes easily out of the music box, folds back up to go back into its box, and your baby has a music box to listen to. There are two volume settings, although they sound pretty much the same to me - loud enough for me to hear through her door in my bedroom 30 feet away.

My daughter learned to use the buttons at about 7 months, and at 14 months, it is still her favorite soother. She turns it on herself, knows which song she wants to hear first, and as it plays for 20 minutes, it lasts until she falls asleep. It is the last thing she does every night, and the first thing she does every morning to let us know she's awake.

I think they make this mobile with a remote now which I guess would have come in handy when my daughter was younger, but she likes that she can manipulate it herself.

All in all, it is ugly, but it works, and I'm glad I got it.